PREMIER LEAGUE: Champions Leicester and struggling Sunderland party

LONDON - Leicester City celebrated their gloriously unlikely Premier League triumph in a fitting manner with a 3-1 victory over Everton in front of their overjoyed, partying fans at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

Jamie Vardy, with a double, and Andy King scored the goals that left the home supporters in raptures even before they could savour the almost unthinkable sight of captain Wes Morgan and manager Claudio Ranieri lifting the trophy after the final whistle.

There were more celebrations at the Stadium of Light where Jermain Defoe was again the toast of Sunderland after his winner in a 3-2 victory over Chelsea lifted them out of the relegation zone, leaving Newcastle United and Norwich City on the verge of the drop.

Rafa Benitez's Newcastle, a point behind north-east neighbours Sunderland in 18th place having played a game more, would then be relegated along with Norwich who are second from bottom.

After the nerve-shredding drama at the other end of the table, Leicester were able to relax in the day's late game and revel in the triumph that has been making headlines all over the world.

Free pizzas and beer for the fans and a stirring rendition of Nessun Dorma by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in a Leicester shirt was the order of a surreal day before the Foxes showed no ill-effects from their week's heady celebrations since being crowned champions on Monday.

The "Jamie Vardy's having a party" chant was belted out by the supporters as the England striker took his season's goal tally in the league to 24.

The only false note came when the forward blasted his second penalty of the day high over the bar in the 72nd minute with Leicester already cruising at 3-0.

CLUB STALWART

It seemed perfect that the goals should arrive from Vardy, whose amazing rise from minor-league obscurity reflects City's own soaring journey, and King who has been a club stalwart through the thinnest of times.

Leicester's victory gave them a 10-point lead at the top of the table with the champions having one game to go, at Ranieri's former club Chelsea next weekend.

United's win at Norwich, courtesy of Juan Mata's fifth goal against the Canaries, left them in fifth place, one point behind neighbours Manchester City who occupy the fourth Champions League qualification spot and face fellow contenders Arsenal on Sunday.

West Ham United's push to play Champions League football in their first season in the Olympic Stadium looked bleak following a surprising 4-1 hammering by Swansea City in their final Saturday afternoon game at the Boleyn Ground.

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce was full of praise for former England marksman Defoe after a result that he felt demonstrated the depth of his side's character.

"You give Jermain Defoe a chance and generally he at least hits the target," said Allardyce.

"We've crawled out of the bottom three by the number of goals he's scored. Without him I dread to think where we'd be as a team."

Twice Sunderland had to come from behind, first after Diego Costa had put Chelsea ahead and then, following Wahbi Khazri's equaliser, after Nemanja Matic had put the visitors 2-1 up on the stroke of halftime.

Three minutes after Fabio Borini's 67th-minute equaliser, Defoe, capitalising on a poor clearance from John Obi Mikel, smashed home the winner.

Terry received his marching orders deep into injury time for a second bookable offence, a decision Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink called "a little bit over the top".

Benitez sounded almost resigned to Newcastle's fate after their failure to dent a surprisingly resolute Villa rearguard.

"It was an opportunity to stay ahead of Sunderland and we couldn't do it," said the Spaniard. "We are disappointed."

(Editing by Tony Jimenez and Clare Fallon)

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FA CUP: Chelsea season ended by Everton's two-goal Lukaku

LIVERPOOL, England - Romelu Lukaku scored two goals for Everton, one demonstrating rare strength and skill, to knock his old side Chelsea out of the FA Cup 2-0 in a dramatic quarter-final featuring two red cards on Saturday.

All the frantic action happened in the final 13 minutes with Chelsea striker Diego Costa and Everton midfielder Gareth Barry sent off but their dismissals only came after Lukaku's brilliance had put the tie beyond doubt.

The powerful Belgium striker, who never fitted in at Stamford Bridge and was sold to the Merseysiders for 28 million pounds ($40.28 million) two years ago, proved irresistible with his late five-minute double, especially with a first goal destined to go down in Goodison Park folklore.

As the game meandered towards a replay, Lukaku conjured a 77th-minute goal from nowhere, muscling past two defenders on the left, powering into the box and, after some nifty footwork to bamboozle Gary Cahill, firing in a left-foot effort.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez hailed it "one of the great goals we will see in the FA Cup".

Five minutes later, freed by Ross Barkley's neat pass, the 22-year-old Lukaku shot through keeper Thibaut Courtois' legs to provide the perfect response to any notion that he was not good enough for Chelsea.

"I don't think I have anything to prove to Chelsea. I went there as an 18-year-old and learned the trade of being a professional. I will always be grateful to them," Lukaku told the BBC after taking his goal tally for the season to 25 in all competitions.

"I think the first goal is the best thing. I didn't know where I was going but then I was in the box, I saw Gary Cahill not know where he was going so I shifted it on to my left foot."

What irony, though, that a Chelsea reject's goals should end a thoroughly wretched week and, effectively, put the lid on a terrible season for the Premier League champions following their Champions League exit to Paris St Germain on Wednesday.

Moments after Lukaku demonstrated his excellence, Chelsea target man Costa could only offer up another striking example of his pointless 'angry young man' impressions.

PETULANT RESPONSE
This time, after an earlier first-half booking for a collision with Barry, he squared up to the midfielder, shoving his face into the Everton player after being fouled.

For a moment it even looked as if he was burrowing into Barry's shoulder with his teeth but the former England international's calm reaction betrayed no sign he had been bitten.

Either way, referee Michael Oliver felt his petulant response meant he had to go for a second yellow card offence, surprisingly the first time he has been sent off for Chelsea.

Soon after, sparring partner Barry was also dismissed for a second booking for a foul on Cesc Fabregas.

The defeat meant caretaker manager Guus Hiddink, who won the FA Cup seven years ago in his previous stand-in spell at Stamford Bridge, had failed in his bid to repeat the achievement following the dismissal of Jose Mourinho in December.

In a game high on spikiness and huff and puff but not an abundance of great skill until Lukaku took over, the best chance fell to Costa who rounded keeper Joel Robles only to see his shot skip across the face of goal millimetres from the line.

A trip to Wembley for the semi-finals represented the perfect welcome gift for Everton's new principal shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

"I am the one bringing expectation and every single player at the club has the right mental character," said Martinez. "We wanted to get to Wembley and our chairman (long-standing owner Bill Kenwright) deserves that for what he has achieved."

($1 = 0.6952 pounds) (Reporting by Ian Chadband; Editing by Tony Jimenez)

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Brilliant Coutinho lifts Liverpool to victory over City

LONDON - Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho produced a moment of Brazilian magic to dent Manchester City's Premier League title aspirations in a 2-1 home win on Sunday as Arsenal moved up to third with a 2-0 victory against Everton.

Coutinho found the corner with a stunning curling effort to extend Liverpool's unbeaten run to 11 league games after Henderson's excellent first-half strike had been cancelled out by City's Edin Dzeko.

It was a serious blow to City manager Manuel Pellegrini and his second-placed team's hopes of retaining their title as they missed the chance to close the five-point gap on leaders Chelsea, who play Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup final later on Sunday.

Arsenal got over Wednesday's 3-1 home defeat by AS Monaco in the Champions League when France striker Olivier Giroud, who missed a glut of chances in that loss, swept in a corner after 39 minutes in a tight game against Everton at the Emirates Stadium.

Substitute Tomas Rosicky added a late second with a long- range strike to make sure of the win for the north London side.

Victory meant Arsene Wenger's team leapfrogged Manchester United in the table and moved to 51 points, four behind second-placed City. Liverpool nudged ahead of Southampton into fifth, a further three points adrift.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had expressed concerns over the fitness of his team ahead of City's visit after they had just two days to recover from a penalty shootout loss at Besiktas in a Europa League last-32 tie on Thursday.

Yet they showed no ill-effects from that match when Henderson, who passed a late fitness test, bent an excellent effort from 20 metres into the top corner to give the hosts the lead after 11 minutes, shortly after Adam Lallana had a goal ruled out for offside.

BRILLIANT GOAL

City equalised when Dzeko slotted the ball past Simon Mignolet after Sergio Aguero and David Silva had combined well to create the chance.

Lallana saw another goal chalked off nine minutes after the interval when he was again flagged for offside after he tapped in Martin Skrtel's headed knockdown from close range.

As both teams appeared to be tiring after an open and attacking match, Brazil's Coutinho found the breakthrough with a brilliant goal, curling the ball beyond a despairing dive from Joe Hart with 15 minutes remaining.

"I have to take my hat off to the players," Rodgers told Sky Sports. "To get back at half four in the early hours of Friday morning -- by the time they got to bed it was six, and they had to sleep all of Friday.

"We then did some light work yesterday, but to come out and play like they did -- they were relentless."

For City, who last week had gained two points on Chelsea as the leaders drew, it was another step backwards and a further disappointment after Tuesday's 2-1 Champions League home defeat against Barcelona.

Arsenal had to contend with their own misery in Europe but they set about 14th-placed Everton in the mood to atone for their mistakes.

Many had questioned Giroud's finishing after a dismal display against Monaco but the Frenchman had no problems putting 14th-placed Everton to the sword.

The visitors, who at times looked jaded after their 3-1 home win against Young Boys in the Europa League on Thursday, threatened occasionally through Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku but Rosicky's goal quelled their hopes of a late equaliser.

"You could see we suffered on Wednesday night against Monaco and that was still in our mind but we were patient, that got us a good chance and we got a good win today," Wenger told the BBC.

(Reporting by Sam Holden, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis)

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